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Climate Finance

Stabilizing the global climate is one of the most urgent challenges in coming decades. Our warming world affects all people and ecosystems, particularly the poor who already suffer disproportionately from climate-change impacts.

This is the first time the Board is faced with approving proposals for specific activities. Are these proposals ambitious enough? Do they contribute to a paradigm shift in developing countries? Or do they fall short?

We’re now halfway towards the 2020 deadline – set in 2009 – for developed countries to mobilize $100 billion a year in climate finance. It’s essential to show that developed countries are keeping their commitments so developing countries know they have support for ambitious action when countries meet to forge a new global climate agreement in Paris this December.
So with five years to go, how close are we to $100 billion a year? And how could we get there?

The finance stream of the UN climate negotiations in Bonn, Germany, last week showed a clearer narrative emerge about the key elements that should be included in the outcomes of the December climate summit in Paris.

China will need investments in the order of $330 billion (RMB 2 trillion) a year from 2015-2030 to overcome its environmental challenges. Tapping the private sector can help scale up the country's green finance.

The excitement around clean energy access through distributed renewable energy has a good basis in real world experience. By creating the right policy and regulatory conditions, international clean energy access initiatives can help other countries benefit from greater access to electricity through distributed renewable energy.

Getting to $100 Billion: Climate Finance Scenarios and Projections to 2020 is one of the first quantitative analyses of realistic funding scenarios to achieve the climate finance goal of $100 billion annually by 2020. It shows that if a variety of sources are included, climate finance could total $109 to $155 billion in 2020 under projections of low-medium growth and leverage.

Research shows that between 2015 and 2030, the world will need to invest an average of $6.2 trillion annually in infrastructure. More than 120 financial actors recently came together to discuss ways to secure this finance and ensure it supports low-carbon, climate-resilient projects.

The Green Climate Fund (GCF), expected to become the main vehicle for securing and distributing finance, moved one step closer to disbursing funds this week. Its resources will support a range of activities that reduce emissions or foster resilience—such as installing renewable energy, helping farmers grow drought-resistant crops and reducing deforestation.